


Venomous (working title)

by AngelicRamen



Series: Venomous Lance AU [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Avian!AU, Dubious Science, M/M, Slow Burn, doctor!shiro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2019-09-14 23:30:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16922457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelicRamen/pseuds/AngelicRamen
Summary: Please Note: I've never watched Voltron, and with the terrible reviews of this last season (8) I really have no plans to. I spend most of my extra emotional energy writing, and I don't have any extra to fall in love with these characters and then feel wronged when I get to the last season. I've seen a lot of art and their captions, and that's it. So if things are a bit out of character, my apologies, but these are my interpretation of these characters and I'm not trying to write something that's 100% in character.This AU is based on Ko's art, you can find links to their twitter and patreon on the series page. Please check them out they're incredibly kind and talented.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Avian!Lance AU](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/444647) by nsf-Ko. 



> Please Note: I've never watched Voltron, and with the terrible reviews of this last season (8) I really have no plans to. I spend most of my extra emotional energy writing, and I don't have any extra to fall in love with these characters and then feel wronged when I get to the last season. I've seen a lot of art and their captions, and that's it. So if things are a bit out of character, my apologies, but these are my interpretation of these characters and I'm not trying to write something that's 100% in character. 
> 
> This AU is based on Ko's art, you can find links to their twitter and patreon on the series page. Please check them out they're incredibly kind and talented.

Bright fluorescent lights and filtered air assaulted the keen senses of the man laying on the floor as his eyes slowly cracked open. His head felt as if it was swimming in syrup and cotton balls. The line between sleep and reality blurring back and forth as he surveyed the room. Empty metal walls and a singular large one way mirror sunk into his consciousness, and began the spark of anxiety. 

Memories flooded past the broken dam of sleep and denial of the day prior, full of tears and pain. That man, he’d put a collar around his neck and bits into his skin. Spots that still ached now that Lance was conscious. He reached to touch and immediately withdrew his hand from the delicate new wounds. They felt crusted and unpleasant. He felt a weight between his wings and looked backward. 

A cord attached from the wall to his collar. Mortification sunk into his expression as a fear of movement gripped all of his nerves. The collar was in such a delicate area of skin, and the cord attaching him looked coated in a metal he wouldn’t be able to bite through. He touched it helplessly, taking a deep breath when the weight no longer pulled a bit on the newly implanted technology. Lance tapped his fingers on the cord, getting a feel for its hardness and heft. It was heavy. He dreaded the idea of it being plugged in constantly. 

His shoulders flinched when air hissed and the door opened. The room had no smell apart from the avian creature until that moment.The scent of the white haired man assaulting his nostrils. Lance bared his teeth and growled at the man. He shut the door behind him and at stopped at the entrance to the cell. His black gloved hands flipped through papers on a metallic, thick clip board he’d carried in with him. His coat was long and pure white, much like the white fabric mask over his mouth. Clearly confident the creature couldn’t get to him, and wanting to note how he would react to someone entering his space. 

The observer pulled out a small controller from the pocket of his lab coat, and pushed a small button. Lance felt a substance pushing into his bloodstream from the collar. It burned at first and his mind started to feel hazed and full of those same cotton balls. His sage tinted brown wings drooped to the floor. Lance’s eyes got shiny and half lidded. He tried to grimace but it was far too much effort, he was suddenly so tired. White hair took notes and waited at the entrance as he fell asleep on the floor once more. 

Moments after Lance’s eyes closed, a pen tapped loudly against the clipboard as the method of choice for being certain that he was entirely back to sleeping as he was less than half an hour ago. The medication was supposed to only keep him asleep for anywhere between ten and twenty minutes. 

With one last look over the sleeping creature, Shiro opened the door behind him. Workers in full suits covering their body and thick powder blue gloves filed in. “Be careful with it, I don’t want to be figuring out if it responds normally to antibiotics,” a voice said over speakers within the room from behind the mirrored one way glass, full of authority. Shiro chimed in, “We don’t have a lot of time. Mind his talons, scales and the collar. If you find any breaks in your gloves after moving him report to Isaac right away.” He looked at his clipboard, the papers with the little information they had on the creature were much more interesting than watching the nameless workers moving him out of the room. Though the reason why was left unclear. Perhaps he was less comfortable with the creature’s treatment than he let on, or maybe he was just invested in the science of it all. Who was to say? 

Workers brought the creature into the next room full of appliances and began hooking him into the chair constructed just for him. It had arm rests to restrain his wrists, but no back. Instead there were straps to contain his large wing span. Shiro had a complex series of white bands constructed to compress the wings evenly without damaging or painful pressure. It took about five minutes to fully hook up the avian to sensors and restrain him. 

“You’re all dismissed,” Shiro said the moment they were done. “He killed an orderly just yesterday. Step away from him and check yourselves for even light abrasions or irritated skin.” 

Taking the opportunity while the feathered man was still asleep, he drew a handful of vials of blood. He set down the last vial in a grid shaped holder, and was dressing the puncture as he noticed the subject starting to come to. Shiro took a preparatory step back, and a good thing he did, as a now awake test subject tensed and lashed out violently with his teeth. Bite the hand that feeds, as it were. His sharp green grey hands balled into fists to pull at the restraints, though there was no chance he could break them. And even if he did, where would be go? This room was sealed just like his quarters. An almost feral growl radiated from his bare chest. Shire watched him cautiously but didn’t react, instead waiting for the blind rage to turn to a stare of anger and balled fists. 

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said slowly, keeping his voice calm and low. His moved to touch some of his scales, but the creature lashed out again. “Alright,” he sighed and rolled a small circular stool closer to the subject so he could sit down with his hands in his lap. “I don’t know if you can understand me,” he continued with the almost gentle way of speaking, even if the core of his voice - and other mannerisms - was sterile and not very feeling. “There are samples I need to get, and I’ll get them eventually one way or another. I would prefer that you cooperate so this is more pleasant for both of us.” 

Lance eyed the man’s white hair, the scar across his face, examining him until his eyes ended skeptically meeting Shiro’s. It was hard to tell if he was skeptical of the statement or just unsure of why the stranger was trying to talk to him in a language he didn’t know. Leaving Shiro to wonder. 

For a short while, the only sounds in the testing space was the hum of the machines and the slightly husky sound of the avian’s breathing. Minutes ticked past before the Shiro stood up and moved his hand cautiously. Lance eyed it intensely, his nose curling up with some distaste. Ultimately he let the examiner touch his brown hair lightly. He pet his fluffy tresses, focusing on where hair turned to small down feathers. It was just as soft and fluffy as his hair, at least it seemed to be through Shiro’s gloves. As he pet the bird-like man a couple of the small down feathers from his neck naturally came off into his hand. He gently put them into a beaker on the table closest to him, and realized there was an oil coating on his glove. 

Perhaps it was a natural oil, like any human’s hair, a protective coating, or yet another poisonous substance coming off his body. He picked up tweezers and pulled the glove off carefully, setting it aside in a plastic tub on the table and putting a clean glove on. Though it had only taken a handful of moments to set the samples down safely the avian already was guarded and glaring at him once more. The slightest hint of a smile tugged at the corners of Shiro’s mouth, but the moment passed more quickly than it had come. 

A drawer opening caused Lance to jerk in his chair. Shiro pulled out a cotton swab in a sealed, glass tube, and turned to face him once more. “This won’t hurt, I just need to rub the inside of your cheek with it.” Despite the twists and turns of Lance’s emotions in the chair, Shiro stayed collected and sterile beneath the gentle demeanor he’d created. He offered his hand once more. It was a slow affair, leaving his hand in the air for quite some time before gently petting his brown hair again. The problem was the creature not opening his mouth when he was instructed to. 

Instead, he motioned for his mouth to open and demonstrated, still nothing. Shiro’s expression remained neutral even in the face of growing annoyance. Petting seemed to be the way to keep him calm but with the cotton swab in his other hand, it left him with no hands to work his jaw and open his closed mouth. Feeling unsure of where to go from here, he thought for another few quiet moments. Maybe if Shire relaxed him enough his mouth would be less tightly closely. Dealing with his teeth was clearly an extreme danger. Lance’s bite had already killed one of the orderlies working in the lab, and who knows how many people before he’d gotten here. Carelessness would mean joining those poor idiots. 

He proceeded with the only idea he had, and massaged the area behind his head at the base of his skull. Doing his best to move the delicate skin on his head but not any on his neck because of the new collar, or pull any feathers. Gradually it started to work, Lance relaxing just slightly against the restraints and his lips parted. “There we go,” Shiro whispered him praises, and found a soft spot of feathers behind his ear which brought a blush to Lance’s cheeks. With his mouth now open he easily put the swab in his mouth and rubbed against his cheek. As he moved to take it out he realized that this was his chance to see what was in his mouth making his bite so deadly. 

Shiro hurried to grab an extra vile from the drawer and collected a decent amount of saliva. Slowly, he stopped massaging the spot behind his ear and retracted his hand. Noting curiously that he was looking away and seemed almost shy about his compliance during the sensory moment they’d just shared. Of course, he returned to hostility, eyeing Shiro harshly from his seat.” 

“I don’t need anything more from you today,” Shiro assured him. Despite that, or maybe because of it, the avian lashed out in his direction and bared his teeth. A disappointed sigh escaped Shiro’s lungs before he spoke again, “You’ll wake up in your room in a couple minutes.” 

Out of his white pocket, the controlled came back out and the same button was pressed. Tension left Lance’s muscles, and he slumped forward in his chair. Shiro touched his shoulders to keep his weight off his wings in the rigging. Workers filed back in when Shiro called for them and began undoing all of the restraints. 

Both gloves came carefully off of Shiro’s hands and were set down in yet another plastic bin on the counter. He put on a clear pair and started to seal all of his samples from the day. Focusing on his work instead of the people handling Lance’s sleeping body again. 

Lance work up back in the blank room, the one that must be his new reality now. Though it being a few minutes or them having spent hours more testing him was something he couldn’t judge for himself. Glaring around he made sure that he was alone within the cold room. His eyes fell on the mirrored surface for a long time. He felt watched, and the watcher was decidedly less pleasant than even the white haired man running all the test on him and looking at him like a problem to be riddled. 

The cord wasn’t attached to the collar this time, thank goodness, he almost felt relieved. He moved to the corner and curled up with his wings around him. It was a futile attempt to hide himself from whatever eyes were boring holes in him through that surface, and that was how he stayed until at least an hour after the feeling of being watched finally went away.


	2. Acquisition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please Note: I've never watched Voltron, and with the terrible reviews of this last season (8) I really have no plans to. I spend most of my extra emotional energy writing, and I don't have any extra to fall in love with these characters and then feel wronged when I get to the last season. I've seen a lot of art and their captions, and that's it. So if things are a bit out of character, my apologies, but these are my interpretation of these characters rather than me attempting to write something perfectly in character. 
> 
> This AU is based on Ko's art, you can find links to their twitter and patreon on the series page. Please check them out they're incredibly kind and talented.

Beyond the one sided glass in the dim room, Shiro began to speak, “Samples of feathers, oil, saliva, skill cells, blood and venom from his fangs were all collected today. I’ll begin testing the toxins immediately, but based on preliminary observations we’re dealing with multiple types of venom.” 

“What makes you say so?” A man asked. He stood close to the window, watching the creature like a hawk. His arms folded neatly behind his back.

“The venom from his teeth was brightly tinted. However, the oils from his skin and hair are muted hues. It could be another component from the substances I’m making an educated guess right now, of course I’ll create a report for you as I learn more, Lotor,” Shiro spoke well and confidently despite his concerns about why Lotor had purchased the winged mean, or what he planned to do with someone he could not touch without dying.

“Do you believe you’ll be able to create an antidote? Or is it something someone could build up an immunity to?” Lotor just slightly looked back over his shoulder at the doctor behind him. His gaze was intense and cold, but Shiro never let himself appear bothered by it. 

“Again, sir, that’s not something I will know without extensive testing. From preliminary observations, I’m not sure either seems likely. Yesterday it only took about two minutes between the subject scratching an orderly and pronouncing him dead. It wasn’t a large scratch, barely noticeable at all, so a tolerance seems either unlikely or incredibly high risk. On the other hand, it’s such a small window to administer any kind of antidote, especially if it’s got a point beyond return before that two minutes is up. I’ll need rats for testing.” 

“That will suffice at first, but we’ll need to move to human testing. You understand this, right, Shiro?” again, he glanced over his shoulder. “Things do not always translate from rats to humans. I want results as soon as you’re able, not years down the line.” 

“Of course, sir,” Shiro nodded. “But I’d like to inquire as to why this is so important.” 

“I do not buy him to have him killing my employees and being unable to do little more than gawk at him through a window. Though, I should note, it’s not any of your business is it? It is your business to solve the puzzle that is this creature, as I tasked you with.” 

“Yes, sir,” Shiro bowed his head. “My apologies.” 

“You’re certainly forgiven this time. There are many who could take your place, remember,” Lotor’s shoulders squared as he took in a deep breath. “When can I expect this report of yours?” 

“That ultimately depends on how much detail you want, sir.” 

“Tomorrow afternoon, I’ll like all the information you gather in a report to take home and read.”

“That isn’t much time, sir. I’ll provide the details that I can.” 

“I’ll be down to collect it at five in the afternoon. Please be ready, and I’d like him awake and ready for a visit.” 

“Sir?” 

“I want to see my purchase up close.” 

Shiro took a deep breath, “Yes, sir.” 

***

The facility was winding down as the afternoon ticked away within evening. Shiro remained at his computer desk with reports open on other venomous substances from previous creatures Lotor had purchased. None of them seemed exceptionally similar, and none of them had been humanoid. 

His seller had no information about him aside from where he had been captured, and the body count he had already racked up before being bought by Lotor. As of yet, none of his workers in the area had even had a sighting of a similar creature. However, the idea that this man was the singular member of a species did not seem remotely possible to Shiro. 

But where would they hide? His wings were so large, and it’s not like there had been mysterious deaths in the area. It was impossible to know how he behaved in the wild by observing him in a cell. Leaving many of the puzzles before him missing fundamentally large pieces to their answers – which rubbed him the wrong way entirely. He leaned back in his chair and furrowed his brow at the ceiling. Air hissed harshly against the gentle whir of the machines and Shiro looked over to see the door to the creature’s room opening. He rose from his chair immediately and strode over, “What do you think you’re doing?” 

“Feeding time for all the creatures.” 

“No, no this is all wrong,” Shiro glared at the food they’d brought before looking back up at the men. “This purchase of Mr. Lotor’s is my direct care, and I didn’t approve of this excuse for a diet. We don’t even know if this is an omnivore. Come back with a large cut of beef flank and another of pork. I’ll cut his portions myself. You’ll do the same for every meal until I tell you otherwise.” 

Despite their slight disgruntled attitude, the two men turned around with the meal of bread, broccoli and some sort of meat and did return with his request. He dismissed them coldly and began redressing himself for being in the creatures company once more that day. 

With black gloves on his hands again, he further butchered the hunks of meat into slices without bone and easily palatable for a human sized mouth. With the collar planted into his neck, ripping at flesh could cause ripping of his own; something Shiro was looking to avoid. As a courtesy he arranged it neatly on the metal platter. After weighing each piece and documenting the approximate percentage of fat. He didn’t want anything to go unrecorded, on the off chance Lotor asked for that particular information. 

Rolling the small scroll wheel with his fingers, Shiro drastically reduced the dosage before administering the sedative remotely to the avian. He watched him slouch over on the monitor, and as he laid down opened the door to his room. The avian’s eyes were immediately harsh, but his arms couldn’t lift himself from the ground properly, let alone quickly. Cautiously but without fear, Shiro brought over the metal tray with perfectly thin slices of beef and pork, and set it near the creature. “Dinner time,” he said simply. “There’s cow and pig. Someone will come by and collect the tray at another time.” 

As if he could tell when he was being watched, the avian didn’t take a single bite while Shiro watched him on the monitor. He ate when Shiro was absorbed in the reports before him, and ate all the meat given to him. When Shiro looked back next it was cleaned and discarded across the room. “Get me the recording of him eating. I expect it in my email by the time I open my laptop at home.” An orderly assured him it would be taken care of. He closed up his desk, books, and computer and headed home. 

***

The one bedroom Shiro lived in wasn’t very fancy or even filled with much at all. Working for Lotor meant a lot of travel and he rarely spend extended time here anyway. There seemed to be no point in decorating or forming an attachment to the place. Instead he spent his paycheck on food and nice pajamas, that he was currently in while snacking on some potato wedges and watch the video of the venomous bird on repeat. Hoping to find anything worth noting he’d zoomed in and slowed the recording down. He’d restarted the clip a dozen times when he notice anything worth noting. If it was even significant, or the lack of something significant in this case. 

As the avian ate, his fangs did not extend, nor did they excrete any venom as he ate. It may not always be an automatic response. So how lethal was a bite with saliva and saliva alone? What was the difference? Nothing to do with digestion based on this footage. 

Questions arose in Shiro’s mind, one after another. Would any bite kill a man? Would his fangs have to be elongated? Could a simple lick kill a man? Where was the line? And how could he be absolutely certain of it?

Shiro rubbed his mouth with his hand as he thought, staring at the frozen frame. A sigh left his throat before he turned everything off and went to sleep.


End file.
